Hopping from hard techno to minimal is the exact opposite of experimentation though. It`s just following a trend.
Since when is doing that innovative?
Experimentation on the behalf of the individual artist is almost irrelevant, and can apply to any genre.
For all you know everyone within every set of dance music is doing something "THEY" haven`t done before with each new release.
That isn`t to say though, that what they are doing is anything of a different take on the genre they are working within.
I think people are making techno that does conform rigidly to a set of rules so that it doesn`t get called anything else BUT techno.
Exactly that in fact.
And melodic techno being new and different, are you kidding? that sound has been around on and of since the detroit beginnings. Not to say it isn`t good, but hardly a speck of innovation there. That kind of music that sat between techno and house was coming out in greater numbers in the early 000`s.
I spend loads of time looking for techno that has a different edge for Singularity Recordings, and its not easy to find stuff that isn`t an emulation or continuation of a very old sub style.
I love techno, but experimentation within the genre seems to have bottomed out.